The End Is Only the Beginning
by Miss Gabberwocky
Summary: SPOILERS AHEAD! It was autumn of Kiyomaro's senior year of high school and he still hadn't been reunited with Gash in these two years, now going on three. This didn't come as much of a surprise to him, as he knew the rules. But Gash was the king! Couldn't he figure out a way a little bit faster, especially with the help of his father, the former king, and Zeon and Earth?
1. Chapter 1

Kiyomaro thought of Gash. His blonde hair, his golden eyes, his small body-at least, it was small in his faded memories. It was autumn of Kiyomaro's senior year of high school and he still hadn't been reunited with Gash in these two years, now going on three. This didn't come as much of a surprise to him, as he knew the rules. But Gash was the _king_! Couldn't he figure out a way a little bit faster, especially with the help of his father, the former king, and Zeon and Earth?

At least they still got to exchange letters and pictures every once a month or so. It was about all of the social contact Kiyomaro ever got recently. He was starting to change back into the boy he was when he'd first met Gash, he realized in a daze, the kid who only kept to himself who lived life passively, through books.

Kiyomaro got out his laptop and the books his father had sent him. He was determined to find out more information about the Makai, and to help Gash. He would see him again. In person, he'd never admit it, but the kid was like his little brother.

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Urghhh!" Kiyomaro exclaimed. "This had better be important!"

Kiyomaro thought back to the last time he said something like this with someone at the door. The day Brago and Sherry came. The day him and Gash nearly got the life beat out of them. The night that they had become determined to fight for his right to stay.

He took a deep breath. After all, what if it was just Mizuno dropping by again, needing help with her math homework again? Or someone he hadn't seen in a very long while, like the Riddle Professor?

He opened the door and saw a boy in a dark blue cloak. _No way, there's no way this is Gash, this just some weird kid, _he thought to himself.

The boy was about a few heads shorter than Kiyomaro, and his face covered by his mantle's hood. He _looked_ to be about ten years old… Kiyomaro did the math.

"YOU!" Kiyomaro grabbed the boys wrists and pulled him inside. "Who the_ hell_ do you think you are, covering your face up like that!?" Kiyomaro put Gash into a headlock and flipped his hood off. "Did you really think you could fool me!?" He smacked his golden head-and not very lightly. The boy didn't whine like he would've a few years back. In fact, he didn't even flinch, and even laughed!

"Well, of course not! You're the smartest person I know, Kiyomaro!"

Gash disappeared, using the mantle's magic, and appeared on top of Kiyomaro, and flipped him over, hands behind his back. He laughed, still sounding like the young boy that had left the Human World not so long ago.

"See how strong I've become?"

"Yes, I do, now could you please let go of me?

Gash did as he was told. "Sorry… You're not really mad at me, are ya?"

"Gasshu." Kiyomaro stood up in front of his friend who was still on the ground. "Rise up, and take a step towards me."

"Oh… Um… Okay…" Gash proceeded to turn around and run the other direction. "MOOOOOOOOOM, KIYOMARO WANTS TO HURT MEEEEEEEE!"

"GASH, SHUT UP, SHE ISN'T EVEN HOME!"

"UWAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED A BIT!"

"NEITHER HAVE YOU! I SAW YOU THROUGH THE WINDOW, READING DUSTY OLD BOOKS WHEN YOU COULD BE HANGING OUT WITH YOUR OLD FRIENDS!"

Kiyomaro grabbed Gash's arm and pulled him into a hug.

"Do you have any idea how much I've _missed_ you?"


	2. Chapter 2

Gash and Kiyomaro walked together, past the park where Naomi used to torture him for hours. Then they walked past the school, past the bank where Suzume was held hostage, past the sites of their previous battles, like the one with Reycom and Hosokawa , and past Kiyomaro's old school, all the while reminiscing in silence. Finally they arrived at the botanical gardens. Tsukushi wasn't there, much to Gash's disappointment, although Kiyomaro was secretly relieved. His answer-talker ability did a lot, but lately it was failing on him. It came and went, hence the frantic studying that morning. He was burning with so many questions that he hoped Gash could answer, in private, just the two of them.

They finally circled around back to their home. Kiyomaro's mother still wasn't home. They went back into his bedroom. Kiyomaro finally spoke up. "Gash, we need to talk about everything. There is so much you need to tell me." "I'm tired from traveling here… Can't you just use your abilities while I go take five?" he asked. "Don't get smart with me," Kiyomaro slapped the back of his head. "You know it comes and goes. It's not working. I don't know why. I've been meaning to speak with the Riddle Professor and Dufort to see what they may know now that could help." Gash grinned, "Okay, but only if you promise to buy me lots of yellowtail!" Kiyomaro grumbled, "Of course. Alright, kid, you have yourself a deal."

"Arth and Zeon helped me to find a loophole in the ancient books in our world," he explained. " As it turns out, when our world, or your world, is in great danger, we can open another portal to the demon world. This is the only exception." Kiyomaro listened intently, his heart sinking. "What sort of danger are you in, Gash? You know that I'll do whatever if takes to help you. All our battles, I'd do it all over again if I had to. What can I do?" _Oh no,_ Gash thought. _He has it all wrong. It isn't_ my_ world that's in trouble._

The doorbell rang as Gash opened his mouth to speak. The two ran downstairs to get it. It was none other than Suzume and a girl with short, curly hair the color of bubblegum. Kiyomaro was flabbergasted. "Mizuno… How do you know-" "GASH-KUN!" Suzume rushed in to give Gash a tight hug. "Missed you, too, Suzume," he said. "But… I…can't… breathe…" Suzume let go. "Sorry, Gash, I just got so excited! I had no idea I'd ever even see you again!" The girl was beaming.  
"Kiyomaro said your birth family couldn't afford to-" Kiyomaro interrupted her. "Shhh, Mizuno, sensitive topic." He whispered. _Gash said that his world is in danger. The last thing I want is for Mizuno to get caught up in this. I hate to lie, but I don't know what else to do._ Kiyomaro shot a look at Gash that said, "Don't tell her the truth."

Suzume was oblivious, as usual. Kiyomaro couldn't help but notice that she was growing into a remarkably beautiful woman, even though from what he could tell she was still the exact same girl he'd grown up with on the inside. He was slightly surprised to see that she still had her exact same short hairstyle and she hadn't grown any taller. She was still at least a head shorter than him. However, there was something about her that made her age apparent. It had been so long. Since they were going to separate schools, he rarely saw he these days. He rarely saw anyone from the the days Gash was around. He felt another sharp pang of guilt for allowing himself to slip back into such a reclusive state. Gash's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Suzume, how do you know Koruru? And why aren't you with Shiori?" Gash asked.

Koruru answed,"I found Suzume here first. She goes to the same school as Shiori did. I recognized the uniform. So I asked her if she knew Shiori. She said that she thought Kiyomaro had mentioned her and I thought he would know, so I followed her to your house." She smiled. "Hi, Kiyomaro. You have a very pretty girlfriend." Kiyomaro and Suzume both blushed bright red. "She's not my girlfriend!" "Oh... Sorry. She speaks so fondly of you, I guess I just assumed..."

Suzume cleared her throat, her eyes on the ground. "Anyway. Do you know where Shiori is?"

"I don't know her address, but I do have her number in case of… emergency." He replied, quickly dashing out of the room before Suzume could ask what sort of emergency he could possibly need Shiori for. He dialed the number and handed the phone to Koruru.

Meanwhile, all the demons Gash had chosen were off finding their former human partners. Brago was in France, caught up in the middle of explaining the dilemma to Sherry. "Basically, a malevolent demon with powers similar to those of Zofis's and Clear Note's has surfaced and plans to take over Human World? I can't believe it."

"It gets worse," he grumbled. "How could it possibly get worse than that?" "They have rounded up their own army, and somehow they found an ancient spell book that transported them to your world, Sherry. They figure that if they can't become rulers of their own world, they'll rule this one instead. There are… many demons to fight." He said, not wanting to reveal the exact sum. And they're powerful, the vast majority of them are adult demons, much, much stronger than children. " "How many?" She demanded. "Over a thousand." he replied with a foreboding tone.

**Please review! If anybody has good ideas for this, please let me know! I'm a little stuck on how to continue this. Sorry I took so long to update it!**


End file.
